Explaining Vampirism- Real, medical or mental?

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Transcript of Explaining Vampirism- Real, medical or mental?

The Renfield's Syndrome- A Psychiatric Illness Drawn from Bram Stoker’s DraculaExplaining Vampirism: Real, Medical or Mental?The Myth of VampirismReports of vampirism in Slavic and European countries date back hundreds of years-yet vampires still make the headlines!

2003:

an

Australian man was on trial after a woman was found brutally attacked. Told the victim he was a vampire and

needed blood to survive.2011: Lyle Monroe Bensley was arrested after breaking into a woman's apartment and biting her neck. Told police that he was a 500 year-old vampire who needed to feed.Glimpses- Reports of Vampire ActivitiesAlso known as Renfield's syndromeCharacterized as a blood drinking compulsionA mental disorder in which person believes that he would obtain power through bloodUsually starts in childhood- a pivotal injury triggers itStatistically a VERY RARE psychiatric disorderClinical Vampirism exists!"TRUE

case reports of Renfield’s syndrome seem to be of the utmost RARITY."Statistics- Renfield SyndromeAcknowledgments:

Published in The Journal of History of NeurosciencesThankyouOf all the myths that survived the test of time and intrigue, it is vampirism- the act of drawing and drinking human blood."The image of vampire is omnipotent, and this has been a reality sincethe most early times of history.” (Markale, 2010, p. 9)Popular fiction on VampiresMention of Vampirism in the Psalms of David“And save me from these blood men. Because they took possession of my live [. . .] They will be back in the evening: and they will be starving like dogs [. . .] and they have a sword on their lips.” Psalm 58: 3, 4, 7, 8Twentieth century vampires and their executionsCase studies of RenfieldRichard Chase, the Sacramento VampireJohn George, the London VampirePeter Kurten, the Dusseldorf VampireFritz Haarman, the Hannover VampireBourguignon, 1977Jensen and Poulsen, 2002Bergh and Kelly, 1964McCully, 1964Halevy et al, 1989Hemphill and Zabow, 1983BEHEADED on April 15, 1945BEHEADED on July 2, 1931HANGED on August 10, 1949SUICIDE December 26, 19801813192218971819"The Giaour", Lord Byron"Dracula", Bram StokerGerman horror film "Nosferatu"1997Buffy- the Vampire Slayer1991"The Vampire Diaries", L. J. Smith"The Vampyre", Polidori200220052008AngelTrue Blood"Twilight", Stephanie MeyerThe disorder was named after a character "Renfield" in Bram Stoker's novel- "Dracula"Renfield was Dracula's assistant and a mentally ill person who was in a lunatic asylumHe consumed flies initially and believed that the act gave him powerWho was Renfield anyway?Typically follows three stages:Autovampirism: drinking one's own bloodZoophagia: drinking animal bloodTrue vampirism: procuring and drinking human bloodStages of Renfield SyndromeHow much of it is real?Could those men possibly be vampires?DAMON SALVATORE and EDWARD CULLEN may be everyone's vampire fantasy but the fact remains that real vampirism is actually a rare, twisted disorder that has been affecting some unfortunate individuals throughout history and till the present day.1976"Interview with a Vampire", Anne RiceExplaining Vampirism: Real, medical or mental?Using stats to crack something as RARE, as intriguing and as mythical as VAMPIRISM.Major content taken from the paper: Renfield’s Syndrome: A Psychiatric Illness Drawn from Bram Stoker’s DraculaVampirismRenfield syndrome?Renfield’s Syndrome: A Psychiatric Illness Drawn from Bram Stoker’s Dracula